


Left Behind

by lunrdarling



Category: IASIP, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it's always sunny
Genre: Also yes, F/M, Fluff, but nothing happens because of it, dee drives after having like two beers, dennis and mac are the bad guys in most of my chardee fics, i guess?, idk they have a cute bonding moment, im not sorry about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 06:17:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12184548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunrdarling/pseuds/lunrdarling
Summary: Dee and Charlie were supposed to be included in the plan that night. Mac and Dennis make some sudden changes.





	Left Behind

“You told me to dress up!” Dee shouted, slamming her purse down on the bar. 

Mac and Dennis laughed. 

“We said that we were gonna dress up,” Dennis rolled his eyes, “You don’t need to dress up because you’re gonna look terrible whether you wear a potato sack or a dress.”

“Yeah. You might even look better in the potato sack,” Mac and Dennis high fived. 

Dee gave an exasperated yell. She’d spent three hours getting ready. She was squeezed into an uncomfortable dress and was wearing heels that she could break her neck in if she happened to trip. She’d taken the time to paint her nails and do her hair up nice. Doing her makeup had taken the most time. She’d been careful to make it look as flawless as possible, not wanting to give the guys anything to pick at her for. All in all, she’d been pretty proud of the way she looked when she was finished. 

However, they’d managed to shoot all of that down in a matter of seconds.

She’d thought she was in the clear when she walked in and saw them all clean cut and in suits. They were going to a benefit dinner for something that would inherently benefit themselves more than anyone else, if everything went according to plan. In order to blend in, they’d all decided that they’d needed to match the dress code. Or the guys had decided while Dee was in the room and she’d just assumed that it applied to her as well. She should have learned a long time ago to never assume anything that had to do with the guys. 

“You guys are assholes,” She snatched her purse back off the bar, “Good luck pulling this off without me because I’m not going.”

“We will do it without you!” Dennis called after her as she stormed towards the back office, “And we’ll do it ten times better than if we had you with us!” There was more laughter and agreement from Mac and Frank. Charlie had been fairly quiet as he sat at the bar nursing a beer. Their plans this week had kept him from getting much sleep so she just assumed he was too tired to join in on the jabs and insults. 

She slammed the door to the back office and stood inside for a few seconds. Then, she yelled again and swept her hands across the desk, knocking most of the items on top of it onto the floor. The clattering and smashing sounds as it all hit the floor was less satisfying than she wanted it to be, but it would have to do for now. Dee needed to wait until they left. Showing any more anger while they were around would only give them more ammo to throw back in her face later. 

There was nothing else for her to do but sit in the office and soak in her own anger. One by one she broke every pencil in the cup on the desk, tossing them on the floor. It was childish, but so were they. She wasn’t even sure that they’d care that all the pencils were broken. It didn’t matter if they did. It was the principle of the thing. Whether they cared or not, they wouldn’t have pencils in the office when they needed them, and that tiny spiteful act made Dee feel a tiny bit better. 

She sat in the office for about 10 minutes before she heard the door shut. She couldn’t hear their voices anymore and the silence was heavenly. Dee took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She needed a beer or two, or ten. Deep down she knew that it was unhealthy to drown her emotions in alcohol but she’d been doing it for as long as she could remember. She’d stopped caring about it being unhealthy a long time ago. 

Picking her heels up off the floor from where she kicked them off earlier, she pulled the office door open. The bar had been so quiet that she’d thought it was empty. As far as she understood, the plan was for everyone to go along to the event. She must have misunderstood, because there was Charlie, sitting at the bar with what seemed to be the same beer she’d seem him with not long ago. 

“I thought you were going with them,” Dee said, her tone flat. She didn’t know if he agreed with the things Dennis and Mac had said earlier, but he hadn’t disagreed with them in the moment so that probably meant that he did. 

“Nah,” He shook his head and tilted his head back to finish the small bit of beer left in his glass. 

He was dressed in his usual dirty clothes, instead of being cleaned up and fancy like the rest of them had been. Dee hadn’t really taken notice of that until now. Even if she had, Charlie wasn’t really the type to dress up so she just would have assumed he didn’t follow the dress code. Following directions wasn’t really his forte. 

She walked behind the bar and grabbed a glass, filling it with beer from the tap. She tilted her own head back and chugged the glass until it was empty. It wasn’t really a sipping-casually kind of night. She was feeling hurt by her brother’s words, and she was feeling frustrated that she’d wasted all that time trying to look good just to have it go to waste. 

Dee filled up her glass a second time and downed half of it in a matter of seconds before deciding to take it easy for a bit. She didn’t want to get wasted, really. She just wanted to get drunk enough to take the edge off and dull her anger and heartache for a bit. If she got too drunk, it would just make her even more emotional. The last thing she wanted to do was make an even bigger fool of herself tonight. 

“Why didn’t you go?” Dee asked, although she wasn’t really sure why. She told herself she didn’t care what his answer was, “I thought you were excited about this whole thing.”

“Dennis said that I would stick out too much and blow their cover,” He shrugged and slowly turned the empty glass in circles on the bar top. He sounded exhausted and defeated, and maybe a little hurt. 

He was dressed in his casual clothes but the more Dee looked at him, the more she realized that he was cleaner than usual. She could even smell what might have been cologne from where she stood across from him. She realized that he had done his best to clean up and get as fancy as Charlie Kelly could manage. He had tried to make an effort, just like she had, and they’d shot him down and hadn’t let him go. 

“That’s shitty,” She said, taking a few more large gulps of her beer. 

Without saying anything about it, she reached over and grabbed his empty glass, filling it with more beer before she set it in front of him again. He gave her a thankful nod and took a few large swigs. When he set the glass down again, he closed his eyes for a few seconds. It made Dee’s heart ache more than the anger that she’d felt a bit ago. She hadn’t realized just how tired he looked. He had dark circles under his eyes and when he opened them again, she saw that they were starting to look a little bloodshot. 

“When was the last time you got some sleep, Charlie?” She asked, her voice changing to a softer tone. 

He shrugged again. 

“I slept a few hours last night,” He told her, “Frank’s been having girls over almost every night and Dennis and Mac won’t let me sleep at their place so I’ve just been staying on the fire escape with some blankets.” He didn’t sound like himself. The energy he usually carried with him everywhere was drained out of him and he seemed like a limp and empty shell of his former self. 

Dee’s mouth dropped open in shock. 

“Are you serious?” She almost couldn’t believe it.

He nodded his head. 

“Holy shit, Charlie..” She put her beer down on the bar and looked at him, “You could have come to my place, you know?” Dee was a little heartbroken that he didn’t know that. 

“Yeah but you’re always so upset when we come by and bother you.. I didn’t know how long I was gonna need to stay out of the apartment so I didn’t wanna just ask to stay with you until I don’t know when,” He ran his hands through his hair and then pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes.   
She did get upset when they barged in or when they showed up at odd hours for stupid reasons. But Charlie not having a place to sleep and staying out on his fire escape was an entirely different situation. Especially because he’d been particularly nice and more respectful towards her recently. She was starting to develop a pretty big soft spot for him. If he’d showed up at her door asking to stay on her couch, she would have been more than willing to let him inside. 

Suddenly, she slipped her heels back on from where they sat on the floor and grabbed her purse, “Come on,” She gestured for him to follow her, searching in her bag to find her keys to lock up the bar. 

“Where are you going?” He didn’t move from his stool. 

“I’m taking you back to my apartment. You’re going to get some sleep, and then you’re going to stay at my place for as long as you need to,” She told him, finally finding her keys. 

He looked at her in disbelief. She sighed. 

“I’m not going to let you sleep on the goddamn fire escape, Charlie. That’s ridiculous,” She shifted on her feet, “Now come on. These heels aren’t the most comfortable things.”

Charlie hesitantly got up off his stool and walked towards her, following her out the door. 

They stood in the cold while Dee locked the door and then headed towards her car. She blasted the heater when they got in, trying to melt off the freezing air that had filled the car while it sat in it’s parking space. She pulled up to the first stop light and flicked on her blinker. 

“Hey Dee?” Charlie said quietly from the passenger seat. 

“Yeah Charlie?” She made a right turn. 

“I..If it’s any consultation, I think you look gorgeous tonight.”

As they pulled up to another red light, Dee glanced over at him. He was staring down at his hands in his lap, picking at his fingernails. She couldn’t help but smile. The combination of the complement and the fact that he quite obviously meant to say consolation made the moment precious to her. The negative feelings from earlier were slowly being forgotten. Her heart felt warm and her cheeks flushed red. 

“Thanks,” She replied, her voice gentle and kind.

They drove through the intersection. 

“I think you look handsome,” She said, seeing him look over at her out of the corner of her eye, “And you would have fit in at that fancy event just fine.”

When she glanced over at him for a second, he had a small smile on his face. 

“Thanks, Dee,” The thank you sounded like it was coming from a deeper place than just the compliment she’d given him. She was pretty sure it was about her taking him back to her apartment, and letting him stay there, and not making fun of him for possibly using the wrong word. 

As a sudden impulse, Dee reached over a grabbed one of Charlie’s hands in his lap. She laced her fingers with his and rubbed her thumb gently against the back of his hand. Surprisingly, it felt right. She hadn’t been expecting that, but she didn’t think too much about it. He didn’t take his hand away from her. He squeezed it once and she squeezed back in a moment of silent communication. 

“Anytime, Charlie,” She looked over at him the next time they stopped and the two of them held eye contact for a little longer than normal. It made her heart skip a beat and she felt butterflies in her stomach. 

One thought crossed her mind in that moment:

Thank god for Charlie Kelly.


End file.
